Tune in at 9:30am PDT on June 10 as Microsoft talks Xbox One games and more.

Following the practically game-free announcement of the Xbox One a few weeks ago, Microsoft has its work cut out for it in convincing gamers that there will be plenty of interactive entertainment for their new TV-watching box. We expect the company to talk up most if not all of those 15 "year-one exclusives" it teased at the reveal event, including eight that are supposed to be all-new franchises (and seven that are the sequels you're already expecting). There's an outside chance that we'll hear price and release date information, but Microsoft waited until August of 2005 to reveal those details for the Xbox 360, so don't hold your breath.

Microsoft won't be neglecting the Xbox 360 either; the company has already promised a major announcement about the older system for its E3 event. Could this be another price drop? A subsidized price? A split into two new models that focus exclusively on gaming or multimedia features? You'll know as soon as we do if you follow our liveblog coverage. The festivities start on Monday, June 10 at 9:30am PST (find out when it starts in your area).

The Xbox One has managed the impossible. It's packed with so much DRM it makes Steam look totally reasonable and friendly.

If you actually compare the two, Steam looks like shit compared to XB1. Unless they turned on game trading when I wasn't looking.

I love Steam, but you have to be a moron to argue it's less restrictive on how you can resell your games than XB1 is.

You can't even compare the two... since when has PC users ever been able to resell games? That market doesn't exist. There's a difference between a digital download and a physical CD. With a physical CD that does not need to be installed (xbox and the like) can be resold. Computer software (be it downloaded or installed from a CD) is tracked by serial key. Once the key has been used, you cannot resell it - you could try to, but you would have to convince the buyer the serial key is valid and not banned or such.

I just think that both gaming preferences (e.g. PC vs consoles) are different markets. One pretty much always had DRM and another that has the ability to resell, but is having that ability revoked. I've bought some lame PC games before, and the last thing that crossed my mind was "I wish I could resell this," in fact, I just think "Oh well, this sucks..."

You can't even compare the two... since when has PC users ever been able to resell games?

Since I started playing PC games. And then it stopped about ten years ago.

Quote:

There's a difference between a digital download and a physical CD. With a physical CD that does not need to be installed (xbox and the like) can be resold.

I can go into town today and buy a game that requires Steam to run. I can't trade that game in. Every Xbox One game is equivalent to that. The disc is an irrelevance now, it's a point of convenience for people who don't want to download 10Gb. That's what's confusing people. Xbox One is a digital distribution console with retail space a lá Steam games.

If I am buying property, as every retailer, including Microsoft says that I am, then the disc, and it's contents are mine. I now own it, and as such, I can do with it as I wish. If I wish to sell my property, that is the right I paid for. Just as much as it is my right to give it away, or melt it down. It is my property, no different then a book. And if I loose that property or it breaks, I must then buy another one.

If I am buying a License, then I have bought the right to use this software at any time I want. That means that it should be tied to just me, but that I should be able to use it on any device, in any location I wish, because that is the right that I have paid for. If they want to make it impossible for me to sell it that is fine, but they can't restrict my ability to use it on any device I may encounter. The software should always be available to me, until the license has expired. This includes replacement of malfunctioning discs. Last, the places that sell these licenses must advertise that they are selling licenses to the software, not selling the software. This includes Microsoft's own website that prompts users to BUY GAMES.

The problem is that these publishers want what I purchase to have all the consumer restrictions of both property, and a license, without any of the consumer benefits of either. They want to have their cake and eat it too.

I am afraid that they will continue to get what they want until it is brought up in court (specifically the US, as in the EU their license mumbo-jumbo in the box holds absolutely no clout).

They've got their work cut out for them. I love my 360 (spent much of today playing Borderlands 2), and was slavering at the thought of an updated console at last, but . . . yeesh. We'll see. If Sony does significantly better re: always connected, used games, etc., I'll have to seriously consider going the PS4 route instead of the new Xbox. Of course, chances are, they'll probably go the same route, in which case I'll probably just bite the bullet and get a new Xbox.

You can't even compare the two... since when has PC users ever been able to resell games?

Xbox One is a digital distribution console with retail space a lá Steam games.

Xbox One is removing the last standing notion of software being something you own: Console game disc ownership in its previous form.

Steam never offered it. Microsoft is revoking it.

Steam justifies it in some great degree. Microsoft is forcing it upon the Xbox Live membership, their real target market: the captive audience.

They are capitalizing their consumers now that they have a sufficient marketshare after barging into the market. I submit they will drag the market down, in a way that the consumer does not necessarily benefit from that could not have been done a more consumer friendly way, due to cash money over everything.

I can go into town today and buy a game that requires Steam to run. I can't trade that game in. Every Xbox One game is equivalent to that.

Except for the part where MS is explicitly enabling a secondary market for licenses.

Between the secondary market for licenses and sharing game purchases with up to ten "family memebers" (the phrases "like a brother to me/like a sister to me" just became a lot more useful), Microsoft has taken a good first step towards making licenses more acceptable to the public.

If I am buying property, as every retailer, including Microsoft says that I am, then the disc, and it's contents are mine. I now own it, and as such, I can do with it as I wish. If I wish to sell my property, that is the right I paid for. Just as much as it is my right to give it away, or melt it down. It is my property, no different then a book. And if I loose that property or it breaks, I must then buy another one.

If I am buying a License, then I have bought the right to use this software at any time I want. That means that it should be tied to just me, but that I should be able to use it on any device, in any location I wish, because that is the right that I have paid for. If they want to make it impossible for me to sell it that is fine, but they can't restrict my ability to use it on any device I may encounter. The software should always be available to me, until the license has expired. This includes replacement of malfunctioning discs. Last, the places that sell these licenses must advertise that they are selling licenses to the software, not selling the software. This includes Microsoft's own website that prompts users to BUY GAMES.

The problem is that these publishers want what I purchase to have all the consumer restrictions of both property, and a license, without any of the consumer benefits of either. They want to have their cake and eat it too.

I am afraid that they will continue to get what they want until it is brought up in court (specifically the US, as in the EU their license mumbo-jumbo in the box holds absolutely no clout).

They'll get what they want until folks stop buying their stuff. Introducing the courts could/will negatively impact both parties. If we don't like what they're doing, lets stop buying their stuff.

I wanted to be excited about the next gen. Now? I don't think there's anything they could announce that will make me give up my 360. I'll play it until it eventually dies, and I'll be done with consoles.

They've got their work cut out for them. I love my 360 (spent much of today playing Borderlands 2), and was slavering at the thought of an updated console at last, but . . . yeesh. We'll see. If Sony does significantly better re: always connected, used games, etc., I'll have to seriously consider going the PS4 route instead of the new Xbox. Of course, chances are, they'll probably go the same route, in which case I'll probably just bite the bullet and get a new Xbox.

Noooooooooooo, we can be better than that! Let us vote with our wallets and tell any company, that want's to take our rights away as a consumer, we won't buy into it.

Meh, who cares about what the PRISMBox is going to offer. 5 billion transistors to allow the NSA to connect and watch and listen to you whenever they feel like it - and you paid for it yourself. I'll buy the PRISMStation 4 instead.

I'm just gonna put this out there, I dont mind no used games, I've only bought games I intend to keep, and I haven't bought a used game in a while... The sharing features seem neat, looking for more info there.

If they announce subsidized pricing with an Xbox Subscription, Sign-me up! I intend to keep Xbox-Gold for a looong time, and my current subscription is pre-paid through 2015... If I can tack-on 2 more years and get an Xbox One for $200, I'm all over it.

Can't wait to see what they've got in store for 360. Likely a dashboard update to bring it to Xbox One standards, and bringing the Xbox One style Game Licensing/Day-One Downloads to the 360 as well My Halo 4 360 will be there right next to my One and my Ouya

Personally I'm a PC gamer and love the Steam approach. They frequently have outstanding sales of older games that make the ability of reselling your games kind of moot. But anyways, I think a good approach would be to support both models of game selling in this generation of consoles.

If you buy a physical copy of a game, it would cost a little more than buying a digital copy. The extra price buys you the ability to resell it.

Therefore, games on physical disks will be treated the same way as they are now. It can be resold forever and therefore stores like GameStop will be okay with it.

But digital copies of games will be locked to your account and cannot be resold (maybe until they can work out some issues about how to implement this)

Let the marketplace decide which model is the best. I wouldn't be surprised if more people later decide that the Steam approach is actually very nice and convenient and wins out in the end.

The Xbox One has managed the impossible. It's packed with so much DRM it makes Steam look totally reasonable and friendly.

If you actually compare the two, Steam looks like shit compared to XB1. Unless they turned on game trading when I wasn't looking.

I love Steam, but you have to be a moron to argue it's less restrictive on how you can resell your games than XB1 is.

You get a lot of leeway when you reduce prices down to $5.

Many games *aren't* discounted (see Call of Duty Black Ops 2) on Steam. Many games *are* discounted heavily on 360. It's swings and roundabouts.

But you're making an argument about value, not rights and DRM.

I think it's more of a value thing overall. You may be locked into certain things with Steam, but they have huge deals and they allow you to play user-generated content instead of always having to pay substantial amounts of money for DLC.

I'm watching the the press conference. What I learned so far, is that its going to cost $500, It's region locked, and M$ payed a lot of developers for some exclusive titles. And the only games I really care about is Halo, Killer Instinct, and Forza 5 (BF4 will be on PS4). Yet, so far they have made no mention of the pain in my ass DRM aka loaning games to friends or the forced Kinect that nobody seems to care for. (I know that this has already been discussed) Graphically its better than the 360 so will give it points for that. The bottom line is ,will I get one? The jury is still out

Many games *aren't* discounted (see Call of Duty Black Ops 2) on Steam. Many games *are* discounted heavily on 360. It's swings and roundabouts.

But you're making an argument about value, not rights and DRM.

CODBLOPS2 has both been on sale on Steam (33%) and at least one "play for free" weekend. The games on Steam are usually not permanently discounted at first but they do go on frequent sales. And they generally don't go on 75% sales in the first year.

If you pre-order games on Steam these days you quite often get extra game unlocks so you get extra games with your new game. (Eg when I bought Bioshock Infinite I got Bioshock 1 and XCOM.)

So yeah, as you said it's more about value than rights/DRM. In the end it's about making the consumer feel good about the concessions they make. Sure I can't resell the games on Steam. But I know that I can install the games on any future machines, and that I can get the games on sale (which I often do).

So all the big games look like they take advantage of the new cloud features. Does this mean that I'm now also going to run into lag even on single player games? Is the Simcity launch going to be the norm for AAA games from now on where no one can play for the first few weeks?

How much bandwidth are cloud enabled games going to use? Is the average person going to run into issues with playing in one room while the significant other is watch Netflix in the other room?

I doubt I'm going to be buying the machine, although I may take a look at what games work after the machines been cracked. I don't really buy into the whole xbox "experience" and just want a console that will play games without popping up crap about updates, linking my facebook, youtube, twitch account, and asking me if I washed behind my ears.

All they said was $499 for the console, but no mention of how much the services would be. It is nice that 360 owners can use their existing Gold subscription for the ONE, but this doesn't rule out a price hike in the future. Watching the press conference on my 360 up until all the technical problems with EA and Microsoft's server crashing I was distinctly underwhelmed. There was too much reliance on AAA games that they hoped the audience would be too dumb to realise weren't exclusive to their platform if they could only persuade the developer to walk on stage and deliberately not mention it was also coming out on the PS4.

...and what's up with this???

Spoiler: show

Master Chief: I may as well dress like a monk. I haven't had sex for a really long time.

Kyle Orland / Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in Pittsburgh, PA.